Apple iPhone 6 Plus vs Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge (image: Ewan Spence)The last few years have seen the same storyline repeated between two major smartphone manufacturers. The idea is this: Apple pushes ahead with innovation and ideas that can change the world and sells a ridiculous number of handsets, as Samsung is left to look at the ideas from the competition and build those into its devices, which will sell well but perhaps not as strongly.
In short, everything that is good about Samsung’s smartphones comes from Apple. That’s the argument, and while it is easy to refute, perception is everything.
To counter the ivory tower of Apple, its technical skills are strong but I’ve yet to see it take on such useful features as waterproofing smartphones or using replaceable batteries, the design of the handset has remained consistent for years, and while the specifications rarely get the promotion that other handsets receive, tear-downs show a smartphone built from above-average but not killer parts.
(Read more: Can the Samsung Galaxy S6 save Samsung?).
With hardware designs, software functionality, and user expectation all converging on a ‘default’ look and feel of a handset, making sure a modern smartphone stands out requires a distinctive voice and style alongside the standard physical aspects.
This is where Samsung’s Galaxy S6 family comes into the story. Following the Galaxy S5 (which was perceived to be a ‘me too’ device), and the Galaxy Alpha (which placed all the focus on a design that had far too many echoes of the competiton), the 2015 flagships are breaking out of Samsung’s ‘fast follower’ pigeon hole to be seen as unique handsets.
Apple iPhone 6 Plus vs Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge (image: Ewan Spence)
This is where Samsung has an edge, or in the case of the 2015 handsets, the S6 Edge. Putting aside Samsung’s Galaxy Note Edge phablet as a limited edition trial balloon, there is nothing else like the S6 Edge on the market. Curving the screen edges into the chassis has created a unique handset that stands out at retail points of sale, that is easily identified ‘in the wild’, and has critics raving about a handset that is different, new, and exciting. With the S6 Edge, Samsung finally has something to leverage against the ‘are you sure that’s not trying to be an iPhone?’ brigade.
In the same vein, the decision to move away from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 system on chip gave the Galaxy S6 a point of differentiation against the other 64-bit Android handsets. This point has been discussed extensively online and one of the positive knock-on effects is that the S6 family is seen as being ‘different’.
(Read more: Samsung Galaxy S6 long term review from Forbes’ Gordon Kelly).
Although most smartphones are built around Android, the ability to skin Google’s Operating System means manufacturers have the ability to define a handset on their own terms to consumers. For Samsung this means TouchWiz UI, and while it might not be as slick as iOS (and arguably the default UI of Android Lollipop) it does allow Samsung to push its own look and feel. This is one of the areas which still requires work. The South Korean interface still feels ‘Apple-lite’. Like many mobile operating system, TouchWiz works in an almost standard way which provides users with a level of comfort in the operation. The downside of this means that any deviation from the norm requires deft programming and very high attention to detail so it does not feel sloppy.
TouchWiz is the weak link in the S6 family. The functionality has kept pace with expectations, but the look of the UI, along with a similar style of navigation through menus and options, means that in use the S6 family still has too many of echoes of iOS to escape the domineering presence of Apple.
Apple iPhone 6 Plus vs Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge (image: Ewan Spence)
Escaping from the shadow of Apple and the iPhone is not a short-term task for Samsung. It needs a multi-year run of handsets that show off South Korean innovation and artisan skill, it needs a strong marketing messages to promote differences without drawing comparisons; and it needs the courage to contemplate a long-term plan in the face of roller-coaster quarterly numbers and monthly market share analysis.
(Read more about Samsung’s sales success with the S6 Edge).
Consumers’ memories can be long. The association of Samsung with Apple is part of smartphone lore (and in the legal records of many countries). The goal of Samsung’s management should be to put as much mental distance as possible between the two companies, even if the products perform the same functions, have the similar broad interface, and fit in the same pocket.
There’s also Samsung’s corporate allegiance to Apple. While the Samsung Devices team is working to pull away from Apple and find a way to boost its revenue and profits back to the levels seen around the Galaxy S3 and S4, Samsung’s silicon fabrication business becomes ever more reliant on an order book filled by Cupertino. Apple will be working with Samsung on the new A9 architecture that will power the iPhone 7 family, and it already supplies RAM, NAND chip, and batteries, for Apple’s portfolio.
Arguably Apple’s continued use of Samsung as a supplier is one of the economic crutches that allows Samsung to experiment and develop a unique voice in the smartphone space. At a business-to-business level, Samsung is irrevocably tied to Apple and it would be a painful experience for both parties to go through a divorce.
Apple iPhone 6 Plus vs Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge (image: Ewan Spence)
The key for the smartphone team is to get out of the shadow of The iPhone, and indeed the shadow of other Android manufacturers. Finding touches that are unique to the company to stop the perception of Samsung ‘following’ another manufacturer is key – the team should build elements that are intensely associated with Samsung, and continue to polish and improve them throughout the life of the device and beyond.
That’s why the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is such an important handset for the South Korean company. It’s the first step in portraying a company that has its own strength and ideas during 2015 and beyond.
I wonder what the South Korean’s ‘second difficult album’ will be?
(Now read my long term review of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge).
You can find more of my work at ewanspence.co.uk. I’m on Twitter, Facebook, and Linked In. You should subscribe to my weekly newsletter of ‘Trivial Posts’.
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